I am one of those readers who likes to visualize characters and scenarios and cast the parts for a potential movie. With THE ESCAPE ROOM author Megan Goldin has given her readers a not so likable, but definitely interesting, cast with whom to work. My choices for the screen version would include Charlize Theron as Sylvie, Zac Efron as Sam, Bradley Cooper playing Vincent, Andrew Lincoln as Jules, Emma Stone as Sara Hall, and Chloe Grace Moretz as Lily.

Now that you have the players imagine this plot. Four cut-throat investment bankers lured to an out of office meeting are duped into playing a game of escape room…….in an elevator…guided by nebulous clues……and with the possibility that failure to escape could have fatal consequences.

This is one of those revenge scenarios that tends to strain credulity but fortunately that does not restrict the readers enjoyment since all of the “captives” are a group you’ll love to hate and are eminently deserving of any and all punishments being meted out by their “dead” colleague.

A diabolically entertaining tale of betrayal, deception and greed filled with dark twists.

Sylvie, Sam, and Jules are summoned, along with their boss Vincent, to a meeting in a remote office still under construction, with no explanation, and no knowledge of who the summoner might be. Following directions, they ride the elevator up, but it stops and the display gives clues to the summoner and instructions in riddle format to escape the elevator. The anonymous summoner has no idea the volatile emotions these four feel for each other. Goldin starts the story off a bit slowly, but builds tension quickly with integrated flashbacks in this scathing take on how corporate Wall Street destroys people. Filling in Dear Reader on their backgrounds invokes sympathy for these unlikable characters, and the end is a gasping surprise. Fans of Liane Moriarty will appreciate this story. I was fortunate to receive a copy from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley.

This was a fun psychological thriller. Don't expect to have your world changed by this book- some of the characters fall flat, and the plot is really not believable- but it was definitely a fun read.

Don't take it too seriously, and it is an enjoyable, fast paced read. Perfect beach day book, or maybe read it around the campfire on your next camping trip!

Just maybe be willing to stay away from elevators for a little while afterwards!

Thank you St Martin’s Press for a copy of The Escape Room by Megan Goldin for review and for including me on this blog tour!

4 high flyers from Wall Street enter an elevator, will any escape? The premise for The Escape Room is that Jules, Sam, Vincent and Sylvie get a mysterious invitation for a mandatory team building exercise. Soon they are in a locked elevator Escape Room trying to find clues and get out. But who sent them there and why?

Told in alternate chapters in the elevator and flashbacks to the incident that started it all, I thought this one started slow and really ramped up. The last few chapters when we finally learn what happened were my favourites. The dynamic between the co-workers was interesting to try and figure out though. A peek into the world of finance was different than my usual reads too

Wow. What a compulsive read!

The story alternates between Sara Hall, before and while she's working at Stanhope, and between Sylvie, Sam, Jules and Victor, the members of her team.

Her team is summoned to participate in an escape room challenge, as a team-building activity... in an elevator stuck at an impossible height. Clues are found and deciphered, and nothing happens. Why?

This is a thrilling debut that I couldn't put down. My son was sick and I was sort-of happy so I could read some more while he was sleeping😅

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The message they pummeled into us was that our world revolved around money, making it, accumulating it, spending it-in that order. It was Stanhope's version of the Holy Trinity. The induction to the firm was more of indoctrination. It was a time of being wooed for a long heady love affair with greed. Any ideals that were held before working at Stanhope from climate change to social justice were wiped away in one fell swoop.

A good thriller in my book always starts with a good start. A scene or moment that leaves you with more questions, a scene that you would find at a train wreck that makes you wonder what happened. Who are these people and how did they get here.

Sara Hall is looking to take the financial world by storm. Graduated from the top of her class the prospects seem stellar. However, with the down turn of the economy, she is finding it difficult to find the dream job she envisioned. That is until leaving another interview fail while in the elevator, she is approached by well dressed, well mannered Vincent who works for Stanhope with his own team of high powered financiers. The chance meeting changed Sara's life. It also changed the life of Vincent's team

Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are part of a team that makes the deals, that makes the money. The dynamic between the four create tension and greed for more. The four are brought into a team meeting but while riding up the elevator, they became trapped so they thought but the stakes become high as they realize they must trust each other to escape.

The narration goes back and forth to Sara and the elevator as you begin to learn about the players and how they got to where they are. What greed turns into and the difference between justice and revenge. I couldn't put this one down. I am usually reading several books at a time, but this one took over.

A Special Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

This was an imaginative thriller unlike anything I’ve ever read before. One of the things I live best in this genre is morally gray character exploration, and The Escape Room did not disappoint! I was on the edge of my seat to see how it would all resolve, and I really enjoyed every minute.

I have never done an Escape Room, and quite frankly, the idea is just not appealing to me in the slightest. I get that it is just a puzzle solving / team exercise, but what can I say, Saw ruined the whole concept for me.

However, the premise of this book sounded pretty interesting and I took a chance on it; I am really glad that I did. The story is told in alternating perspectives of what is happening in the elevator (the escape room) and Sara Hall. While I was way more into Sara’s story, the whole book kept me on the hook as I devoured the pages.

I really liked how the book started with the end and then told the story of how the characters got to that point. While it might sound like knowing the end at the beginning doesn’t work, it really does. The Escape Room is well written and Goldin pulls off a few good twists, even though you know what happens from the beginning.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery, whodunit and a suspenseful drama.

A revenge story that checked all the marks for an over the top thriller. Told in two view points, Sara Hall and the team on the elevator. A classic story of big fish eats small fish in a financial work environment where power and money are the rule. I was definitely grabbed by the story since the very beginning. As we all know there is a bloody start! I can’t imagine being trapped in a elevator #claustrophobia will kick in for sure! I have never done an escape room before but I sure won’t do an elevator one!
A thrilling read from start to end that you sure will enjoy if you don’t ask too many questions! Just enjoy the ride!

The idea of actual, physical escape rooms are extremely stupid to me. Is it because of my own personal claustrophobia? Maybe. Is it because of my hatred of "team building" exercises? Probably. Either way, the idea of a thriller centered around an escape room probably isn't the best for me.

Amazing ! could not put it down ! just an unbelievable story with an epic ending ! I read it in one sitting because I had to know what happened, it is just that good !

My feelings about this book are kind of all over the place, likely due to the characters more than anything. Some I disliked right from the start, two I liked immediately, and a few I disliked but my heart started to soften along the way, and in the end, only one character was exactly who I thought they were. Truthfully, I was pretty disheartened as the layers were pulled away and certain characters were revealed for their true selves. I'm certain this was intentional and my disappointment with them was necessary to make the point.

The setting, an escape room experience in an elevator, was pretty brilliant, if limited. And the lack of clues certainly provided time for the story to unravel. This not a fast-paced thriller, but a carefully timed suspense novel/social commentary that attacks, in a very dramatic way, the painful reality of sexism in the workplace. As a woman who used to work in a male-dominated industry, that aspect truly resonated with me. And I connected with the main character right away, but as the end turned into a sort of revenge drama, it lost a little buy in from me. Nevertheless, it's a solid read and I very much appreciated and enjoyed the book.

This book was hard for me to describe. I love the suspense that runs through this whole story. Each of these characters that are all financial advisers are not very likable. Each of them seems to only be after money. I loved to hate each of these people. There were many twists and turns throughout. I was rooting for the “bad”.guy at times. I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Megan Goldin for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of The Escape Room. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

The Escape Room. Those popular places for millennials (and now families and birthday parties are jumping in the mix), where you pay to get trapped in a room with a bunch of people. You have to figure out the clues to escape. This is something my kids have expressly forbidden us from doing. They claim we wouldn’t be able to get past the first clue. Too much arguing over who’s right. I’m not sure they’re wrong.

In this story, Goldin juxtaposes Sara Hall against 4 people stuck in an elevator by alternating point-of-view chapters. Sara Hall comes from humble beginnings. She is broke, working as a waitress to make ends meet and desperate for a real job. By chance she meets Vincent (in an elevator of all places!). He hires her to work at Stanhope, a Wall Street finance firm. The job is demanding with no room for a personal life. You work 7 days a week, with people who are hardcore, highly competitive, unfriendly and unhelpful. If you make a mistake or can’t keep up, you’re fired.

So sweet little Sara goes to work with the sharks. Her story arc shows her climbing up the corporate ladder even though she never fully fits in. The alternate chapters are about four of Sara’s co-workers trapped in an elevator. They were lured there on a Friday night under the pretense of a team-building activity. Nobody wants to be doing the escape room challenge, but all are too scared to not take part in a company-mandated activity. As a reader, you get the sense that this escape room is not all that it seems and it quickly goes to hell-in-a-hand-basket and they start to turn on one another.

I felt very good at the end of this book. It was a satisfying read. The kind of satisfaction when people get what they deserve. I feel good when that happens. Sometimes in revenge fiction, the author backs off, so I appreciate it when they go full throttle. It’s fiction, not real life, so I like someone to gets their comeuppance.

In the beginning, it is obvious that Sara is not in the elevator with the rest of her team. You know there’s a reason. I felt like it took a long time for the real story to start. I get a little impatient with how long it takes to get to this part of the story. Yes, there has to be the setup. I understand. But why does it have to take up so much of the book? My experience reading is that it feels like preamble until the author acknowledges this and then I can move on. I felt like ninety percent was waiting to get to the last ten percent.

Another example is that we know that there is something important inside the record Lucy leaves Sara. So why do we have to wait so long for this to be addressed? I’m not going to forget about it. Not in a mystery/thriller. After a certain point, it just isn’t suspenseful. But, I really liked the ending. So I felt good when it was over.

I had other issues, so without giving any spoilers, I will try and explain. I like the whole idea of being ten steps ahead, chess move type situation, that a character will take on. But I thought that many of the chess moves were unnecessary and didn’t even understand why some of them were happening. These issues weren’t major, as they are in some books, so I still overall enjoyed the read.

I liked the characters and how they interacted. They were juicy. The rotten ones were rotten and not apolegetic. I like Sara and her development. The story also stayed focused on what it was about and it didn’t meander down unnecessary paths.

I think that lately I have been looking for something in the mystery/thriller genre that I haven’t been able to find. It might mean that I am harder than need be on these books that I have been reading because I feel unsatisfied. Lots of people loved this book and it has won a few awards and has a starred Kirkus review. I’m not sure if it is a “me” problem or a “them” problem. Maybe I have just read so many books that I can see the writing on the wall. I am just waiting for that thrill.

Have you read a really good thriller lately? Have you been satisfied with the level of suspense? Or are you disappointed with what you have been reading? Let me know in the comments below what you think about the offerings of late in this genre.

What an interesting book! It takes the reader on a journey of secrets, lies, and the fast-paced world of high finance. It's a very dark and twisty tale, but the author has created such a unique story that I couldn't put it down. Once you start to figure out what's going on, you have to get to the end as quickly as possible to see what happens next. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good. Great twists! Interesting plot! The Escape Room will leave you frazzled and dazed. Although the plot line isn't exactly believable. The WOW factor kept me going until the very last page. I was definitely shocked when the whodunit was revealed!

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A multilayered, smart, and taut thriller filled with the uncertainty in what people are truly capable of.

In Goldin’s debut, THE ESCAPE ROOM, the author explores the greedy side of human nature and how one act can cause a completely unexpected chain of events.

Here is the thing. I enjoyed this story, but it did take me about halfway to get really into it. I think it is because it is so meticulously plotted. The author uses every moment to inform another part of the book, and each step we take with the characters has a purpose. I love it when an idea or a situation from an earlier chapter comes up at the end. This careful construction of the narrative, coupled with eloquence and constant flow to the writing makes you want to find out what will happen at the end.

As far as first novels go, this is a fantastic start. The author exposes the darker nature of humanity while still managing to give us a glimmer of hope here and there. THE ESCAPE ROOM is tense, well thought out, and a candid look at how self-serving people can be. If you like a mystery with a bit of grit and a whole lot of backstabbing, this will be a must-read for you.

Four members of an investment bank team think that they are participating in an escape room exercise but are instead trapped in an elevator by an unknown adversary. The book focuses, in alternating chapters, on the trapped team and on Sara, a former member of the team who died a few years ago. There was way too much backstory on Sara for me and I skimmed those chapters. The story held my interest until the end because I wanted to know why they were trapped, but everyone in the book (with the exception of the mother of one of the characters) was despicable. I couldn’t root for anyone inside or outside of the elevator car. The plotting is clever and the book is a quick read so it will probably be popular, but I was hoping for more at the ending. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I read this book all in one sitting, forgoing food along the way. It was that good! I look forward to more from this author!

Great thriller... kept me on the edge of my seat. I was guessing “who dunnit” throughout the book. Surprise ending!